


A father and his sons

by Maeve_Lynn



Series: Valentine's Day 2021 [5]
Category: Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
Genre: Dad!Halt, Fever, Fluff, Gen, small family, some soft vibes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29473980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maeve_Lynn/pseuds/Maeve_Lynn
Summary: When returning from a mission, Gilan and Will are surprised by a heavy rainfall. Combined with some cold, it overwhelms Will and Gilan rushes back to the cabin. Meanwhile, Halt is getting worried in what kind of condition they will return.
Relationships: Gilan & Halt O'Carrick, Gilan & Will Treaty, Halt O'Carrick & Will Treaty
Series: Valentine's Day 2021 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2164947
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	A father and his sons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mythologeekwriter](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=mythologeekwriter).



> This request wasn't that easy to write due to a lack of fluff ideas, but I managed to get some nice dad!Halt taking care of his sons.  
> I hope you'll like it ^^

After waiting for ten minutes, the man walked to the window and looked outside. Not that much to his surprise, he didn’t see anything. He let the curtain fall back in front of the glass and paced again through the room. Sometimes, he thought he had heard his horse neighing and headed to the window, yet he was disappointed over and over again.

“Come on, where are you, guys?” he mumbled worriedly. He wasn’t the type of person to show this much concern, yet the situation was urgent. No one had thought it would happen, but the spring weather had made place for a winter one with coldness and even a bit of snow. Now, most people wouldn’t care, only be a bit annoyed. This, however, wasn’t the case for the people he was waiting for. He knew that one of them wasn’t just annoyed by the sudden change, no, he would be dead scared.

“Just come back home soon, boys,” he said, his eyes lifted to the ceiling, as if he was praying to the gods he didn’t know.

“Will, are you alright?” Gilan carefully asked. He had seen the sudden change in the boy’s eyes when they rode through the forest on their way back home. It was a combination of fear and anxiety, but also confusion and even sadness.

Will, sitting in the saddle, his eyes focused on the road in front of him, wrapped his cloak firmly around him when there was another cold breeze. He covered his ears with the hood and shivered once.

“Y-yeah, I’m alright,” he lied, not wanting to make his friend worried. Unfortunately for him, the Ranger wasn’t easy to be fooled. He was well aware what was going on, even from this distance he could see it pretty clear.

“No, you’re not alright Will. You seem not alright at least. Almost as if you had a fever.”

The young apprentice was surprised by this, but he was already shaking his head, realizing too late that he would have to give another explanation.

“I… I just don’t like the cold,” he admitted finally, but saying it in a way that made clear he didn’t want to talk about it.

Gilan nodded, focusing on the road as well, but looking at his friend from the corner of his eye.

“That’s alright Will. After all, the winter was quite cold and just as we thought that it would be better, it tricked us and let the sun go away again and replaced it with dark clouds and a cold breeze.”

Trying not to show how uncomfortable he was, Will decided to do some breathing exercises in an effort to calm down. It didn’t help as there was another breeze and this time, he thought a drop of water fell on the fabric of his hood. Looking up, more drops of water fell down and soon, both of them were soaked and shivering.

“Well, seems like we get some winter back after all,” Gilan pointed out, meanwhile scanning the environment for a place to shelter.

A cold breeze was one thing, but in combination with the rain it became too much for him. He wanted to get inside, now. He didn’t care if Gilan would scold him or not for leaving him behind, but he just didn’t want him to see what could happen if he-

All of sudden the boy became dizzy, his sight blurry and the sounds disappearing to the background. He tried to stay in the saddle, but his body dangerously swayed to one side and before he knew, he was laying on the ground. Luckily, he had taken his feet out of the stirrups, preventing that Tug would drag him over the way as the horse ran away for a few meters before returning to his master.

“Will!” the taller Ranger shouted and quickly jumped on the ground, rushing to his younger friend. He took him gently in his arms and laid a hand on his forehead. “Will, you’re burning up, boy. We should get you home right away.”

Will protested, saying he was fine, but his attempts didn’t make any difference. He was lifted onto Blaze’s saddle, but didn’t remember what happened afterwards as he had fallen away into a dark hole.

Gently tapping Blaze’s flanks, Gilan urged her to go back to the cabin. He had already knotted Tug’s reins over his head, preventing him to fall over it and the little horse followed his friend, worriedly looking at Will from time to time.

If it wasn’t for the neighing, then it surely was because of the heavy rainfall. All of sudden, the clouds broke apart, creating a curtain of rain. It was difficult to see who was approaching the cabin, but he knew it as soon as he could distinguish two horses, yet one was without his rider.

Opening the door with the speed of lightning, Halt ran outside, almost slipping on the wet grass. He took the unconscious boy in his arms while Gilan dismounted and laid him in his arms once he was standing on the ground.

“Take him inside and make sure he’s warm,” Halt ordered. “I will take care of the horses.”

Gilan had disappeared inside with Will as Halt went to the stable. He took the saddles off as well as the reins, then continued with drying the horses’ fur and gave them some food and water as well. After drying the equipment of the young men and being sure that the horses were all warm and dry, he went back inside. There, he was shocked to what he saw.

“Gil, Will!” Both the men were lying on the floor, shivering and holding their cloaks tightly. Halt kneeled next to them, feeling their temperatures with the back of his hands. “You’re both sick, the weather surprised you both,” he said in a gentle voice.

Gilan, opening his eyes upon hearing him, tried to lift himself up, but was pushed down by his ex-mentor.

“Oh no, you stay right here, you hear me?” Halt stood up and went to Will’s bedroom. Just before they had left for their mission, Gilan had spent the night there and now Halt gathered both their nightclothes before he returned.

He gently helped them take off their wet uniforms and dried their cold limbs with a towel. Then, he put on their nightclothes and let them lay in front of the fireplace, wrapped up in a warm blanket.

Once he was sure they had had the aid they needed, he got a new log into the fireplace, bringing the dying flames back to life.

It didn’t take long before the warmth spread through the room. Gilan shuffled closer to the source, making sure he would stay at a safe distance. He was tired and wanted nothing else than to sleep. His eyelids became heavier as well and within a few seconds, he drifted away to sleep.

Next to him, Will was still unconscious, being overwhelmed by the sudden weather change. Bad memories were recalled in his head, remembering the cold and the snow of Skandia. He hated it so much, yet the fear he would never get out of it, was even worser. As he was reliving those moments, he trashed and kicked the blankets off him. Halt, already aware that this could happen, went to him and stroked his head.

“It’s alright Will,” he said with an assuring voice. “You’re at home and I’m with you as is Gilan as well.”

“G-Gilan,” Will managed to say, his teeth chattering as he was shivering so much. “I-is he a-alright?”

“He’s alright, but you both have a fever,” Halt responded and looked at his right. Gilan was sleeping deeply, not hearing anything what happened.

The older Ranger thought for some minutes and then got back on his feet.

“W-what awe you d-doing?”

“Don’t worry boy, I will return,” Halt replied and went into his bedroom. There, he opened the closet in which he kept all the blankets he had and also some spare pillows. Taking them all out, he returned to his apprentices, laying the pile on the ground.

As he was placing them on the floor, Will and also Gilan, who had woken up, curiously watched him. They shared a look, not sure what to think of it. Eventually it was Gilan who asked what he was doing.

“Well, as you two can’t share a bed without kicking the other out, I thought it would be nicer to spend the night here in front of the fireplace so neither of you will become too cold.”

Sitting down once again in between his apprentices, he saw how they shuffled closer to him until they were laying against him, each searching comfort.

Halt smiled. They were both adults, one of them wasn’t even his apprentice anymore, but that didn’t matter. To him, they would always be his boys.


End file.
